Olaf Kölzig spent 16 years as a Washington Capital — including six appearances as their goalie in the playoffs. He owns many of the franchise’s meaningful goalie records (GP, W, SO, Pts, SVs and SV%). Should the Caps honor the now-retired Kölzig by hoisting his jersey to the Verizon Center rafters?

As you would expect, Ted Leonis got this question almost immediately after Kölzig announced his retirement, and posted in his blog:

He was an all-time great for our franchise. He is deeply respected and beloved by all of us but I simply request that we all have the luxury of time. We all need to gain perspective.

Let’s take a look at which jerseys are already retired by the Caps and then see if Olie the Goalie deserves his jersey among them.

The current honorees:

Will Olie's #37 someday join Langway, Labre, Gartner and Hunter up in the rafters?

#7 Yvon Labre. Labre scored the first-ever home goal for Washington and was the team’s captain from 1976–78. Labre is on the Caps career leaderboard for PIMS (#8).

#5 Rod Langway, captain from 1982–93 and also the “Secretary of Defense.” Langway is a HOFer, won the Norris trophy twice with the Caps and was a 6 time All Star. The Capitals competed in the postseason in every one of the 11 years that Langway was with the team. Some credit him as being the franchise’s savior. A no-brainer.

#32 Dale Hunter. Hunter litters the Caps leaderboard – and not just for PIMs (1st): Games Played (4th), Goals (T-9th), Assists (3rd), Points (4th). He was also the captain from 1994–99.

Clearly, Kölzig is the best goalie ever for the Capitals. His 18,013 saves are about 12,000 more than 2nd place (Don Beaupre) and his 301 wins are the most for any Washington Capital goalie. He also owns many of the franchise’s meaningful goalie records (GP, SO, Pts and SV%).

Kölzig was a fan favorite. In 2004, the Capitals held a vote for fans to determine the top 30 players in the franchise history to celebrate their 30th season in the league. Kölzig’s 2,038 votes led all players.

In the 1997–98 season Kölzig led the Capitals to the Stanley Cup Finals. In the playoffs, he became only the tenth goalie in NHL history to record four shutouts in one postseason. The Caps were swept in four games by the defending champion Detroit Red Wings.

Kölzig also has the distinction of being one of four goaltenders to play a scoreless period during an NHL All-Star Game, having done so at the 2000 All-Star Game. He also played in the 1998 All-Star Game, in which he made 14 saves on 17 shots. His 2000-01 campaign is the only one that would also come close to an “all-star-type season.

In 2000, he won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie after going 41-20-11 with a 2.24 GAA and five shutouts.

So, what do we have?

Out of the four jerseys retired by the Capitals:

Three were captains. The first thing that jumps out at me is that three of the four honorees were team captains. Because Kölzig was a goaltender, he was never allowed to officially hold that title, but there was rarely any doubt who led the team especially in the latter stages of his career. Remember, there was a time when Steve Konowalchuk, Jeff Halpern & Brendan Witt held the distinguished honor.

Two are Hall of Famers, one of which is on the list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players ever. Kölzig played in an era that also had Richter, Brodeur, Hasek, RoyandBelfour, so he was never regarded as one of the best goalies ever in the NHL, and I am not so sure he is even a HOFer.

None were Cap “lifers.” Kölzig spent 16 years with the Caps, and during that time, he was a very good NHL goalie, which is why he holds most of the meaningful franchise records a goalie can have for the Washington Capitals.

It’s a tough call. I think there is pressure from fans, more for sentimental reasons than for Kölzig’s body of work on the ice. Longevity certainly is something to be lauded, but it also provides a longer period of time for people to become endeared to an ideal. Kolzig is a fan favorite for sure, but outside of the Vezina Trophy season of 2000, I think retiring his jersey would be more for a PR move than for his contributions on the ice.

Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth will ultimately provide the “perspective” Leonsis spoke about in his blog post, but either way, I don’t think Kölzig should hang among Labre, Hunter, Langway and Gartner.

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My question to follow up on this is, do the Caps retire #12? I would say most definitely, but some of the same factors involve Bonzai was essentailly a Washington-lifer. He holds (correct me if I’m wrong) six Caps records [Goals, Points, PPG, GWG, SHG and Hat Tricks].

12 and 37 should go up and be the only ones to go up for at least 20 years. Franchise players that gave us their best years and put on quite the show in the meantime. I wish they’d make another commercial like that Olie one, classic!

Obviously, #12 has to go up, that’s a no brainer. Along with him, I believe #37 has to go up as well, and I’m not just saying that because he is my favorite all-time Capitals player. He holds recorders, he was with the team longer than any other, he was a leader, and he is a great man. He did so much for the team, he did so much for the fans.
He deserves it more than most people do. One day, his jeresey will be retired, along with many other Caps greats.

TB

I am all for retiring number 68.

In all seriousness though, the question with 12 shouldn’t be a matter of IF, but it should be WHEN.

BobbyG

I’ve been a Caps fan from prior to the Kolzig and Bondra heydays. IMO #12 and #37, separately or together, deserve to be retired by the Capitals. This is a double no-brainer for me too.

Rachel

Why should performance be the only factor? He was the bet goalie we had, did AMAZING work in and around the community, and frankly stayed with a struggling team when he could have gone elsewhere. He was the only good thing the Caps had for a long time. It is LUDICROUS to think his jersey would not be retired…in fact…do it next season! Sign him for an honorary game so he can truly retire a Cap and get that 37 up in the rafters!

Nathan

Neil, you were one of those people who got mad when the Rangers retired Adam Graves’ number, weren’t you? In the end, the only reason jersey numbers get retired is for the sentiment. Kolzig meant a lot to the Caps’ franchise, deserved a better exit than he got, and absolutely deserves to have his number retired.

@Nathan: I was living in NY at the time Graves played (and I drank from the Cup the year they won) so no, I was not bitter at retiring Graves’ #. Plus, he was a vital cog in bringing the first Stanley Cup championship to NY in 54 years. That + 10 yrs = OK with me retiring jersey.

I will agree Kolzig deserved a better exit than he got, something along the lines of Bobblehead Day at least.

My question to follow up on this is, do the Caps retire #12? I would say most definitely, but some of the same factors involve Bonzai was essentailly a Washington-lifer. He holds (correct me if I’m wrong) six Caps records [Goals, Points, PPG, GWG, SHG and Hat Tricks].